One of my favorite writers (sports or otherwise) is Joe Poznanski.  I have trouble describing what I find so likable about his writing.  His style is not overly descriptive or flowery.  It isn’t peppered with arcane historical or literary references.  Whatever it is, it allows Poznanski to connect with his readers.  When I read him, I intellectually know he’s writing for a large audience, but on an emotional level, I feel like he and I are having a conversation.

In a recent post to his blog, Poznanski wrote about some of the inaccuracies in the film Field of Dreams.  I’ll deal with Poznanski’s opinion of the film in a second, but the conversation got me thinking about my favorite baseball movies of all time. 

As it turns out, Field of Dreams is my favorite baseball movie.  It might be more accurate to say that Field of Dreams is my favorite movie involving baseball since it really isn’t, strictly speaking, a baseball movie.  However, I think that would be splitting hairs.

At the start of every baseball season I do two things.  First, I rent the nine part Baseball documentary series by Ken Burns.  I really wish that Burns would update the series.*  It left off in the 1980′s and so much has happened since then.  True, I’ve lived through the past 20 years and I’ve witnessed the things that have happened in baseball.  Even so, I’d like to see how Burns would deal with it.

*As it turns out, my wish will soon be granted.  Unbeknownst to me, Burns is working on a two-part “10th inning” (top of the 10th and bottom of the 10th) expansion of his Baseball series.  The new episodes will be aired on PBS in September 2010. 

The second thing I do is watch Field of Dreams.  For me, watching the film in late March/early April is the sports equivalent of the seasons changing from Winter to Spring.  In truth, football has been over for a while when April rolls around, but it still feels like we are moving from football into baseball season.  It is an annual ritual I perform to mark the changing of the seasons and the renewal of life.  Wow, that last sentence sounds probably deeper than I meant it, but you get the idea.

Field of Dreams is clearly my favorite baseball movie.  It is also my second favorite movie of all time, behind only It’s A Wonderful Life (Now you see how I roll).  What is less clear is in what order my next favorite baseball movies fall.  In second place, I would have to put The Natural.    I remember when The Natural first came out (1984) I purposely avoided it.  I can exactly explain why other than to say that I thought it would make a mockery of baseball.  If you’ve seen the film, you know that’s ridiculous, but I was young and foolish at the time.

The next three could be in just about any order.   They are Bull Durham, Major League, and Sugar.  Sugar is a very different film from the other two, and that is probably one of the reasons I liked it so much.  It was much more realistic than any of the other films, including Field of Dreams and The Natural.  While the other films explored other issues while using baseball as a vehicle for that exploration, Sugar was a realistic portrayal of a young Dominican coming to the U.S. to play baseball. 

I know a lot of people like For Love of the Game.  I have to be honest and tell you I’ve never seen it.  I’m not avoiding it, but for whatever reason, I’ve never watched it.  I probably should do that.

Anyway, I mentioned earlier that Poznanski took exception to the historical inaccuracies in Field of Dreams.  His article starts by talking about another article written by Charles Pierce of the Boston Globe.  Pierce wrote about the fact that the Iowa corn-field-turned-baseball-field portrayed in Field of Dreams is up for sale and he encouraged someone to buy it, plow it under, and plant corn.  Pierce is not a fan of the film. 

Pierce’s biggest complaint is that all of the players who came out of the corn to play baseball are white.  Not only is this historically inaccurate, it is also insensitive and racist.  He also points out that Terrence Mann  (James Earl Jones’ character), who is said to be a black-activist from the sixties, does not seem to notice, or if he does, doesn’t seem to mind.  He even gives a long, heart-felt monolouge about the good old days of segregated baseball, and hence, segregated life in America.

Poznanski seems to be more bothered by the fact that in the film, Shoeless Joe Jackson (played by Ray Liotta) bats right-handed and throws left-handed, just the opposite of the way Shoeless Joe did in real life.  It also bothers him that the young Moonlight Graham (played by Frank Whaley) is much shorter than the older Graham (played by Burt Lancaster), has different colored eyes, and uses a Jack Clark model bat* during the ghost baseball games. 

*I’m not 100% sure about this, but I think that Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner) provided the equipment for the game, so that explains why ghost baseball players from the early part of the 20th century are using bats designed for players in the 1980′s.

Poz also points out some other problems with Shoeless Joe.  For instance, the real Shoeless Joe was an illiterate southerner.  But in the film, Liotta plays him as not only articulate, but with a New Jersey accent.  Couldn’t he at least have tried to take on the persona of Jackson?  Isn’t that part of acting?

Finally, Poznanski points out that all of the ghost baseball players seem to be from the early 20th century except Gil Hodges, who played in the 1950′s and 1960′s.  At one point in the film, a young Moonlight Graham is naming off the players he sees on the field and includes Hodges.  Graham may have known of Hodges prior to his (Graham’s) death in 1965,* but he certainly wouldn’t have known of Hodges during his (Graham’s) playing days.  

*I just found another inaccuracy that I haven’t heard brought up elsewhere.  In the film, the woman from the newspaper in Chisholm, MN says that “Doc” Graham died in 1972.  However, according to Wikipedia, the ultimate knowledge base, he died in 1965.  Here’s a link to the original trailer from the Field of Dreams and it includes the Chisholm newspaper lady’s grevious error.

Truthfully, I don’t have a problem with any of this stuff.  Think about it.  If you are going to buy into the reality created in the film, you have to accept that dead baseball players can emerge from the corn provided you build them a baseball field.  Right there you’ve left the real world and gone into another dimension.  If you can accept that, you can’t be bothered with what side of the plate Shoeless Joe swings from or how many Negro League players are represented in the corn.  You’ve already traveled to a different world.  Accept things at face value.  Don’t ruin it by over-analyzing the new world you’ve entered.

I agree with all of the inaccuracies/inconsistencies that Poz points out.  He’s right.  They are real.  The only difference is that these inaccuracies/inconsistencies don’t bother me.  I’m okay with them.  I can accept them and still enjoy the film.

But there is one thing Poz points out that I have to disagree with.  If you’ll recall, the premise of the film is that Ray Kinsella was living with the regret he felt for telling his father that he could never respect him because his hero (i.e. Shoeless Joe Jackson) was a criminal.  Poz doesn’t think the regret from a careless comment like this is dramatic enough to summon voices and dead baseball players from the great beyond.

I have to respectfully disagree.  Imagine if the last thing you ever told your father was that you could never respect him.  As a father myself, that would eat away at me for the rest of my life.  I want to do everything I can for my kids to make their lives better.  Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail.  But I hope beyond hope that they respect my efforts.  I hope they respect the life I live and the values I hold.  It would bother me to no end if they didn’t respect me.

So for Kinsella, who is a father himself in the film, thinking back on his relationship with his father, he realizes the pain his father must have felt to hear his son tell him that he didn’t respect him. To know that those were the last words he ever spoke to his father makes it all the worse.  So I think such a comment is the perfect catylast for some serious soul searching and regret. 

I also think it is the perfect reason to plow under a corn field and build a baseball field.  I know I’d do it.  That’s why Field of Dreams is still my favorite baseball movie.